I attended an All-British car show in Woodland, CA Sunday and saw at least two E-Types, labeled as 1969 models, which carried triple SU's. I hadn't researched the topic but had the impression that the 69's would have had Weber's.

Were the triple SU's an option as late as this?

Submitted by NC13-44669 on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 16:05

William: I stand corrected on the SU carbs, thanks. As I said, I'm new at this (my Jensen-Healey had Strombergs).

Patrick: Thanks for the info. I went to the website you suggested & ordered the Zenith damper oil for $9.40.

Submitted by bonnettoboot@e… on Sun, 08/31/2008 - 14:32

John, You have three SU's not Strombergs. The oil used depends on the climate and can very from thin machine oil in arctic regions, to 40W in very hot climates, Some Scandinavian cars with similiar carbs used transmission fluid as it was thin. Use the same oil as you do in the engine.

Submitted by NC13-44669 on Sun, 08/31/2008 - 12:45

Hello, I'm new to the forum pages. I recently purchased a 1967 E-Type with triple Stromberg carbs, the manual says to top off the carbs with straight 20 weight oil, but I'm having trouble finding it. Any suggestions where I can get 20 weight, or what is a suitable substitute. I'd rather not very from OEM specs.

Thanks in advance,

John

Submitted by mbsansom@hotmail.com on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 18:40

I purchased my 62 XKE roadster in 1984. It has tripple SUs. Despite all of the horror stories I have heard about carburator with SUs, the only time I have had to touch them is to refill the oil in the dampers. The car accelerates like a rocket, idles smoothly, and returns respectable gas mileage (after 23 years of inattention to the carbs). Maybe it will catch up to me, maybe I'm just lucky ...

Submitted by jagster911@bel… on Thu, 05/29/2008 - 14:01

Isn't it funny how many people have this misconception about the brands of carburetors? I still hear people calling SU's Webers, and even the lowly Zenith Strombergs are perceived as Webers by some. Even the Zcars by Datsun/Nissan enjoy this same confusion. The SU licensed Htachi carbs on the early Z's was a sweet carb, with few problems because it followed an excellent design. What most people don't realize is trying to fit Webers to anything is not something to be left to the novice, as they are a devil to tune, and small displacement engines cannot use that much fuel. The results are fouled plugs and in extreme cases, washed down cylinders and a ruined engine.

The really laughable situation is so many mechanics think the SU's are difficult to balance and tune. I shows a total lack of knowledge about one of the simplest fuel mixers ever invented.

Submitted by SC38-21185J on Thu, 05/22/2008 - 16:56

Edited on 2008-05-22 16:58:51

Tom:

All 1969 models are considered Series-2, and all came with dual Zenith-Stromberg carbs. No production model E-Type ever came with Weber carburetors. (Given the propensity for disagreement on the forums theses days, someone will challenge that).

Changing the dual-carb setup to a triple SU-HD8 (like Series 1 E-Types) is a popular thing to do, however, it is not original.

Patrick